Vallejo Rising: Don't pass up this opportunity to shape our future

Open City Hall forum offers you a panoramic view of residents' priorities

Patricia Kutza

In the first installment of our new Vallejo Rising series, we talked about the Vallejo Initiatives workshops - a wonderful opportunity for Vallejoans to have their say about shaping future policy in this city. If you didn't get to attend one of these workshops, held at many different parts of the city, you still have a chance to participate online. Open City Hall will be 'open' to your feedback, but only until April 14th.

After that date, feedback culled from these on-site meetings and online surveys will be compiled into Draft Guiding Principles, which will be summarized and reviewed at a General Plan Working Group (GPWG) Meeting on April 28, 2014. After public review and discussion at the GPWG meeting, the Draft Guiding Principles will be refined and presented to the City Council on May 27, 2014 for approval. Once approved, the Guiding Principles will serve as the touchstone document for all components of the Vallejo Planning Initiatives Project.reviewed by the General Plan Working Group.

Right about now you may be thinking...oh boy...another survey...I think I will pass on it. Curb that urge. Sophisticated analytics used by the Peak Democracy site that administers Open City Hall not only allow you to visualize what online participants value ( a moving target as more people give their feedback). The sites' easy-to-use tools also allow you to prioritize your own values without having to type your responses (unless you wish to elaborate further). And other options help you slice and dice the data by demographics...and even by tag cloud.

If you must lurk instead...by all means do so. But we wager that, after you have read a few comments, you will want to join the fray. After all, this is YOUR town too.

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Patricia Kutza is a San Francisco Bay Area-based journalist. When not writing, she can be found mastering her camel-spin on ice, photographing outdoor murals, or catching halibut in San Pablo Bay. She welcomes feedback at pkutza@pacbell.net.. Patricia also contributes to CBS Local, and can be read here.